The Lycan's Hunt

Chapter 2: Riveted

I hastily dropped my head in a bow. I didn't know what I had gotten into me. Staring a Lycan in the eyes for too long could be taken as an invitation to a duel. And with my flimsy, normal werewolf strength, that was not a battle I was ever going to win. These duels mostly ended with the death of the Lycan's opponent. But I couldn't have helped it. The only word I could think of to describe Zen Hayes was... unearthly.

He had blond hair which had been styled back in such an impeccable way that not even a strand was out of place. He was dressed immaculately in a fitted black suit with a dark turtleneck. But the trait that made me want to stare at him for too long had been his eyes. He had the most astounding hazel eyes that I had ever seen.

"Rise," the deep, baritone voice pierced through my thoughts. Everyone straightened. Beside me, Freya was gaping at the Lycans but she was looking at the other two. I had been so stupefied with Zen that I had completely overlooked the other two Lycans standing there. There were two others. Lorelei and Silas. They were all recognizable to us due to their daily news and pictures in newspapers, magazines, and television. Silas was a tall man with dark hair and grey eyes, while Lorelei was a stunning redhead with green eyes.

"Proceed with your work," said Zen. This brought my attention back to him. He was still looking at me and I was suddenly more than aware of my haggard appearance. I had tied up my dark hair in a messy ponytail and was wearing dark pants with a simple shirt and boots. The only marginally pretty thing were my blue eyes, which I had gotten from my mother. I would probably look like a tramp next to them.

"Too late," I thought. In my defense, I hadn't thought that I would be meeting Royalty tonight.

Freya grabbed my arm and dragged me a little further away from them. I was actually grateful for the distance because I clearly wasn't thinking. An innocent man had been killed and I was fretting over my appearance. That was a new low.

"What're you doing? You know you can't just stare at them like that. They're unpredictable. It can end in violence."

"I know. I know. It's just that they look so untouchable. Do you feel that? It's like there's an aura around them. It screams about how different they are."

" I get you. It's our first time around a Lycan. I wished I had dressed better," she grinned.

"You don't even need to try, F," I stated. And it was true. With her short blond hair, honey-brown eyes and beautiful bone structure, Freya was beautiful enough to be mistaken for a model.

We both began to collect all our implements, flashlights, and cameras. Carl had summed up the courage to approach the Lycans during this time. He was gesturing to the general vicinity of the scene, which indicated that they were probably talking about the murder.

"Look at how much his hands are shaking," Freya snickered from beside me.

"Serves him right," I mused. If I said that I didn't have anything against Carl, it would be a lie. A considerate and understanding boss could make your life better. An overbearing and offensive asshole could turn it into hell. Needless to say, there was no love lost between us.

"Ladies. A moment?" said an unfamiliar voice from next to us. s**t. Beside me, Freya had gone completely still and then tensed as if she wanted to run away. She turned to the owner of the new voice. Silas Hayes. He was similar to Zen in many ways and they looked almost the same age, but I knew that Silas was 32 while Zen was 29. He was just as handsome, but he didn't make my breath catch. No. Not like Zen.

"What did you find out from your inspection? Any specific observations that we could find useful?" he asked us. My shoulders dropped a little with relief. Work. He wanted to discuss the murder. We could handle this. Surely.

" Yes, of course, Mr. Hayes," Freya began, "It could be seen that this was a pre-planned assassination. The culprit used arrows as most bullets can be traced back to their owners. The use of scent diminishers shows that the culprit was definitely a werewolf or perhaps a Lycan."

"And even though we will get more definite results from the autopsy, we saw that both the arrows had penetrated Marshall's back and gone straight through it. This shows that the arrows had been shot from a long range. Probably from outside the property. More accurate answers will obviously be obtained from the results of the autopsy, of course," I finished in a rush of breath and looked at Silas. He looked contemplative, as if he was pondering over all that we had said. Abruptly, he looked at both of us and smiled. It changed his whole face and made him look younger, more boyish.

"Thank you for your thoughts, ladies. You have been very helpful. And I'm sorry that you had to come here so late after your working day," he said to us. But I was barely hearing him. My eyes had again gone searching for Zen and had again found him focused solely on me. His head was tilted as he watched me and I knew that he had been listening in on the conversation with his amplified hearing. I saw something spark in his eyes. Interest. Or maybe approval. Yeah, the day had started to really wear me down. Why would a Lycan ever look at me twice? There was nothing exceptional about me that would result in him looking at me, much less staring at me. So why was he? Why?

Wrenching myself from my thoughts, I walked to my car. Freya was walking with me. She was telling me something. Maybe something about Silas being the most alluring man she had ever met and how unfair it was that God had taken all the luxuries of the world, put them on a plate, and presented them to Lycans. This broke me out of my stupor. I laughed out loud and put an arm around her shoulders as we went back to our cars and called it a night.

An oddly interesting night.

Zen's POV

Riveted. This was the only term that could relate to my state of mind at the moment. The name I had been supplied with by Carlos Smith upon my inquiry was reverberating in my head.

Anya. Anya Pierce. A unique name. I deliberated how the name would sound while coming out of my mouth. It fit her. There was no denying that she was a very magnificent woman. Even while looking worn out and hastily dressed, she had gripped my whole attention. With her dark hair and mesmerizing blue eyes, I couldn't help myself and had studied her intently.

What was about her that had me so intrigued? I had to know more about her. Needed more information. About her life. Her job. Family.

Relationship status, came a thought from a dark part of my mind. I cut it off before it could take life. This was for purely professional reasons. Her thoughts on the murder had engrossed me. I wanted to know more about the person who would be working on this case, which was still a closely guarded secret. And it would stay that way. If any of my enemies were made aware of what had happened here today, they would think of the Royals as weak. And we could not afford to show any weakness. That was all.

But even as I called my Head of Security to complete this new task, I knew that I was deluding no one.